School contract.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group. Inc. has received a contract from the Los Angeles Unified School District to manage the construction of the second phase of the district's massive school building program.

Jacobs's executives said the contract is for two years, with three additional one-year options. The company would provide engineering, scheduling and estimating services for the district for construction of several new schools. Terms of the contract, announced last week, were not disclosed.

After not building a single major school campus in nearly 30 years, the LAUSD has been on a crash building program since the passage of the $2 billion Proposition BB measure in 1997. Early on, the program was dogged by cost overruns and controversy, epitomized by the scandal that enveloped the Belmont Learning Center near downtown.

But in recent years, the district, under a new board and Superintendent Roy Romer. overhauled its building program. Romer brought in Jim McConnell, a former captain in the U.S. Navy Seebees, and the district dramatically sped up its pace of construction. garnering praise for its efficiency.

To date, 55 schools have opened, with another 20 under construction. The total $19 billion plan calls for an additional 95 schools by 2012.

However, some controversy remains. Some critics have charged that the district has abused the eminent domain process to clear the way for school facilities, while others say the new schools are still too large and are not as integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods as they should be.

Nonetheless, voters last November approved $4 billion in more school facilities bonds. But on Jan. 11, McConnell announced his resignation, effective in June. That puts the construction program at a crossroads, just as Jacobs assumes its management contract.